Faith in Jesus Christ is our response to God's elective purpose in our life. These two truths–God's initiative and man's response–co-exist throughout the Bible. The gospel is "the message of truth" because truth is its predominant characteristic. Salvation was conceived by the God of truth (Ps. 31:5); purchased by the Son, who is the truth (John 14:6); and is applied by the Spirit of truth (John 16:13). To know it is to know the truth that sets men free (John 8:32). Believers are people of the truth (John 18:37), who worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), and who obey the Word of truth (John 17:17). People have rejected, neglected, redefined, and opposed God’s truth for centuries. Some cynically deny that truth even exists or that it can be known by men (John 18:38). Others foolishly think that denying truth will somehow make it go away. Truth determines the validity of one's belief. Believing a lie doesn't make it true. Conversely, failing to believe the truth doesn't make it a lie. The gospel is true because Jesus is true, not simply because Christians believe in Him. His resurrection proved the truth of His claims and constitutes the objective basis of our faith (Rom. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:3). Truth is our protection and strength (Eph. 6:14). Throughout history, people have tried everything imaginable to gain favor with God. Most turn to religion, but religion apart from Christ is merely a satanic counterfeit of the truth. At the heart of every false religion is the notion that man can come to God by any means he chooses–by meditating, doing good deeds, and so on. But Scripture says, "There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). That name is Jesus Christ, and we come to Him by confessing and repenting of our sin, trusting in His atoning death on the cross, and affirming His bodily resurrection from the grave (cf. Rom. 10:9-10). There is no other way to God. False religious leaders and teachers talk much about God’s love, but not His wrath and holiness; much about how deprived of good things people are, but not about their depravity; much about God’s universal fatherhood toward everyone, but not much about his unique fatherhood toward all who believe in His Son; much about what God wants to give to us, but nothing about the necessity of obedience to Him; much about health and happiness, but nothing about holiness and sacrifice. Their message is full of gaps, the greatest of which leaves out a biblical worldview of the saving gospel and replaces it with the worldview of postmodernism with its dominant ethical system of relativism. The Bible describes mankind in the end times: “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). Spiritual answers cannot be deduced by human reason alone (1 Cor. 2:14). It’s not that spiritual truth is irrational or illogical, but that human wisdom is defective, because it’s tainted by man’s sinfulness, and unable to perceive the things of God. That is why the Bible is so important. It gives us the answers we can’t find on our own. It is God’s Word to mankind. Scripture is divinely revealed truth that fills the vacuum of spiritual ignorance in all of us. Post-truth is the word of the year for 2016 and also the philosophy of the day, According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. In a “post-truth” world, people make choices based on emotion and experience rather than objective fact. So in a post-truth world, truth is irrelevant. What exactly is a post-truth culture? It’s a culture where truth is no longer an objective reality. It has become subjective. It’s what’s true for me—my beliefs, my opinions, determine my truth. So in our post-truth culture, man determines truth. Man makes himself the ultimate authority. This starting point, which rejects God’s Word and the idea of moral absolutes, makes truth subjective. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Christianity is grounded in objective truth. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Objective truth exists because we have God’s Word. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Thy word is truth” (John 17:17), and Paul and James describe the Bible as “the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15; James 1:18). The Psalmist says, “The entirety of your word is truth” (Psalm 119:160). Jesus Himself said, “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37). When Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6), He wasn’t expressing His personal belief or opinion. He was speaking the truth, a fundamental reality that doesn’t change from person to person. It doesn’t matter if our culture thinks all roads lead to God. The truth of the matter is “no one comes to the Father but by [Jesus].” This blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell

Negative Christian Stereotype: Do Christians have a Superficial or Blind Faith?

Negative Stereotype: Non-Christians believe we have a Superficial or Blind Faith.

This essentially means they believe we don’t know what we believe (or don’t really believe what we believe because of our actions) and are uncomfortable and unprepared to discuss our beliefs with others who might disagree. They believe our beliefs are “skin deep”, and don’t go much beyond the Sunday school stories of “Jonah and the whale” or “Daniel and the lion’s den”. They dispute the Bible’s truth; claiming it is full of myth, inaccuracies, and contradictions.

• What’s your definition of having a superficial faith?

A Story to Make It Real:

• “Bible ‘study’ is an exercise in affirming/reinforcing their beliefs, instead of critical inquiry.”

• “Blind faith: willful ignorance, maintaining ignorance even when presented with the evidence.”

Examples: (Do you have any stories to share? What’s the impact of having a superficial faith?)

1. We have faith, but we don’t live as if we truly believe. E.g. it’s fake and superficial. Read Titus 1:16, James 2:14-24

2. Atheist Penn Jillette (Penn & Teller comedy duo) challenges Christians saying “IF you really believe God exists and I’m going to hell, then you SHOULD come talk to me. I admire those that do. If you really believe and DON’T talk to me, then you must really hate me!”

Discussion:

• If we are unwilling to talk to other people about God, what does this say about our faith or what does it say about our love for other people? Read Philemon 1:6

• People are rarely “reasoned” into believing. However, I DO believe having a confident and reasoned defense can propel someone into a self-discovery of God through the Holy Spirit. How well could you defend the Bible or God, which is the object of our faith?

• Jesus says that if we truly love Him, we will obey His commands (John 14:15). How would you respond if you were challenged about selectively picking and choosing which commands from the Bible to obey, or picking and choosing which practices to follow or ignore? Read Exodus 20:9-10, Exodus 21:17, Matthew 15:3-9, Galatians 3:25

• Is it appropriate to continue with a Child-Like understanding after accepting Christ with a Child-Like faith? Read Mark 10:15

What God Say About It (The Bible):

• 1 Peter 3:15 “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

• 2 Timothy 3:14-17 “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

• Jude 1:3 “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.”

• 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?”

• Hebrews 5:12-14 “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

• Hebrews 4:2 “For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.”

o Creeds focus on doctrine of the Trinity (God the father, Son of God-Jesus, Holy Spirit), Jesus being eternal with God, not made or a creation of God, Jesus taking on flesh and becoming human, suffering, dying, and resurrecting after 3 days.

• Understand the history of the church and its splits over theological differences (Eastern Orthodox/Western Orthodox, Protestant Reformation). Some denominations place more emphasis on the Bible, while some emphasizes prophesy or tradition. Is there a perfect denomination or does it really matter, assuming they agree on the essentials?

• Accuracy of the Bible, compilation “canonization” process, and how books were included/excluded over time, rejection of Gnostic gospels, and the translation process

• Defense of the Resurrected Christ – Lee Strobel’s “Case for Christ” focuses on this

• Understand why man needs salvation (original sin, nature of man), that salvation is available for everyone, and how Jesus’ sacrifice made salvation possible (substitution).

• Understanding the transformed life: before and after acceptance of Jesus Christ

Action:

• Is action more important than understanding? You don’t have to become a Bible scholar, theologian, or apologist, but you should understand the essential beliefs, decide whether you believe them, praise and worship God according to those beliefs, and be able to offer a reasonable explanation as to why you believe them to be true.